Jan 17, 2018

Awesome Little Green Men

It's been awhile since I picked up a new blind box toy. Going to the stores week after week and not finding anything I really want, I decided to pull the trigger and check out Awesome Little Green Men.

These small soldiers (2"-3" tall) are sold in single blind boxes and in battle packs of 4 or 8. Each blind box comes with one of 106 figures, a dog tag, and a new recruit poster (checklist). They don't outright say it, but I suspect some of the rare vehicles figures are only available in the multi-packs.

Like the age old army men figures, there are two sides but now they're blue and green. Blind boxed toys having rarities is nothing new but it also comes into play with the game they've built around these guys.

See hello to Private Midrats.

Midrats is a member of the Eagle Eye Unit, as you can see from his helmet. It's hard to tell under there, but I think he's got his left eye closed so he can take aim. Each army has six different units. While no two figures are exactly the same, it looks like they painted the molds to make different looking troops.

I like the cartoonish design of the figures. They remind me of army guys I drew in middle school. (Remember that game on paper you'd play with a friend where you each draw your army on one half a sheet of paper and then make a "shot" by marking it and folding the paper over to see if it hit? Anyone?) Part of what made me get one was seeing the battle packs on shelves. The packs have some cool packaging that looks like a military truck and is mostly transparent so you can see some of the figures.

As I mentioned earlier, there is a game you can play with them. You can get the rules on their website. This is where the rarity comes in. Each figure has a point value on the base which is used to figure out an army's strength so that both sides are balanced. Their rank determines how strong they are and how many hits they can take. It's sort of like intro to tabletop wargaming. And I can totally see little kid me playing this on the floor.

Little kid me would have liked something like this. Loved it if they were spacemen and/or aliens! The blind boxes go for $4 (or $1 in little kid times). It's a decent value with the figure and dog tag. I think the dog tag really adds something to the package because a kid can take it and use it in their own play stories.

But I have to wonder how well they might sell. Anyone that's ever played army men will tell you, the more the better. At $4 a pop for a single unknown soldier, I could maybe see parents picking up one or two to go with a battle packs. Then you either need a lot more or a friend that has their own army. Or you could just, you know, play army men!